In Downingtown area, a sigh of relief

DOWNINGTOWN – After Sandy’s arrival, borough officials were pleasantly surprised to find less damage than anticipated.

“Almost all the borough has power,” Mayor Josh Maxwell. “We’re just doing some minor cleanup and the borough is opening back up.”

According to Maxwell, Downingtown experienced about 5 inches of flooding throughout the storm, causing only minimal damage.

Maxwell is lifting the state of emerergency at 5 p.m.

“Nothing outside normal flood damage in the borough,” he said.

Some residents lost power in Johnsontown and around East Ward Elementary. Maxwell said that part of what kept the borough’s emergency operations effective was the community’s input through social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and the borough’s website.

“We flooded pretty bad in the evening,” resident Elaine Babcock said. “But everything’s back open. We’re actually pretty well. We had a couple power outages in Johnsontown, but (the lights) were back on in about three hours.”

Babcock said that PECO and the borough’s public works department handled the storm really well.

“Everyone was kept well-informed (through the borough’s website). We’re all pretty well okay.”

In Upper Uwchlan, Police Chief John DeMarco said the township also was lucky the storm did not cause an extreme amount of damage. The township also kept its residents apprised through its website.

The only road closed in the township as of Tuesday afternoon was the intersection of Font and Greenbridge roads due to a Verizon utility pole that snapped during the evening hours of Monday. It was brought down by high winds. St. Andrews Lane also was affected.